Well I Got Me This MacBook Pro 13"

[DVDR_Dog]

I was just missing that MacBook Air I gave my GF sooo.
I am now the proud owner of a MacBook Pro 13" 2016 touchbar and not the base model.
So the display is messed up and it is just the display or the infamous cable.
It's kind of funny, it's not the typical "flexgate" symptoms although I haven't ruled that out just yet.
It's not the mobo or GPU. The diagnostics run okay and it produces good video on an attached monitor.
If it was let's say a Dell I think memory first and screen damage second. There isn't a mark on the machine's case so it's not physical damage. I have read that perhaps it's the video connector (or whatever they call it) or the cable itself. So now it's time to open it up.

Now here's the deal, I know I was busting on the Surface but holy crap this system is no better. Apple glues the battery in for goodness sakes. That should give you some kind of clue what repairs to this beast entails. Now I know why somebody tossed it out.
So I will at least check out the display wiring on this system, it is problematic. The connector cable that Apple spec'd was too short and it fails. Apple replaced them but will no longer do that. iFixit sell a good replacement cable for 20 bucks.
If I need to replace the LCD screen evidently you have to replace the entire upper unit. The LCD screen itself can't be replaced by itself. I see prices from $320 USD on up for those. Not sure if this this is worthy of that kind of investment.
So I know Apples in the past are generally a pain in the butt to repair but these newer units are next to impossible. That must be the reason behind "The Right to Repair" legislation being proposed in the US.
So if anything earth shattering takes place with this system I'll let you know. Otherwise I may just part the darn thing out. There is that hole in my Apple collection these days.....

 

[starhawk69]

This is why I hate working on laptops and tablets, everything is glued or taped in place. I certainly don't envy you trying to find a replacement for that screen. Apple doesn't like to sell spare parts and when they do it usually cost prohibitive to repair or replace without special tools. It seems the LCD panel can be replaced but finding one and installing it appears to be a pain in the ass.

 

[DVDR_Dog]

This is a A1706 Pro model w/touchbar. The screen itself is like $250 USD and the entire assembly is about $75 more. There is a video of some guy in China who actually replaced the screen, no thanks. The crap you need to dissolve the adhesive is carcinogenic and looks like you have to get up close and personal. You have to tease the screen away from the frame and it looks like it takes hours to do that. Using gloves would guarantee a breakage.

So this thing does have 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD but a puny i5 dual core @2.9ghz. I just don't know if it's worth it including not knowing what caused the current problem, will it reoccur? I imagine this system runs hot as hell with all this stuff crammed in and few cooling ports.
I have been inside the HP and Dell offerings that's case design is similar to this MacBook and no way are they are the pasted together proprietary crap that this Apple is. Almost as bad as a Microsoft Surface. Almost.

Check this nonsense out. This video is almost 1 1/2 hrs long. This guy is replacing a screen on a 15" model but they are both the same. If you care to watch he gets pissed off trying to remove the cracked screen in the speeded up part. Keep in mind that many, many parts of this vid are time compressed. Who knows how long this repair took. I don't care to find out.

 

[starhawk69]

That was almost painful to watch even tho I ff thru most of it. Definitely worth buying the whole assembly rather than having to deal with all that tape and glass shard cleanup. I did a screen repair on a tablet for a friend and promised I would never put myself thru that again. I still have a shard of glass in my finger from that. Most of the new ultra thin laptops are nothing more than a tablet with a keyboard and a large hinged screen, built the same way, with weight and size the major design objectives. Cooling is usually secondary because heatsinks and fans add weight and space. I'll stick with the Dell's I can get from local county auctions for @ $40. Older and weigh a lot more but much more robust.
This seems to be the engineers solution to "right to repair". Sure you can fix it yourself and they will be happy to sell you the parts, but the fabrication process is impossibe to duplicate without special tools. Also using propritary parts that can only be obtained at vastly inflated prices. The price you pay for convience I guess.

 

[DVDR_Dog]

This is one of those "Is this a blessing or a curse" deals. As luck (good or bad) may have it I just got another one of these wonderful iMac Pr 13" same specs. Only this one has a good screen. From what I have read not only is flexgate a problem but cooling as it is in so many late model MacBooks is a problem.
So I have to admit the touch bar is darn cute. I am half tempted to swap this with the MacBook Air I gave my GF but the reliability with the model I gave her is not an issue and it has a new battery and SSD. The early versions of the butterfly keyboard on the Pro model are troublesome too so I will keep this one as a play toy.
The new M1 chip models have some big issues already. Software compatibility and Apple is relying on passive cooling. 5 mil wafer chips are a double edged sword. Yeah they use less power and therefore make less heat but those super thin silicon wafer are very sensitive to heat and electrical damage. Soo we will see if Apple knows what they are doing. They have been out of the semiconductor market for a very long time and their last CPU the Power PC Chip ran as hot as the mouth of hell, they even needed special ceramic carriers manufactured, not tto far from where I lived for a short period (a very very long story).
I just finished repairing and older iMac 27" and I will never touch one of those again. All in ones are a repair nightmare anyway. So my stay at home, amuse myself with Apple products are coming to an end. Adios